The Falcons have been stockpiling former first-round picks such as Bucannon this offseason, and to boost their anemic pass-rush, maybe they can add free-agent linebacker Clay Matthews, the cousin of left tackle Jake Matthews later this offseason.

In August 2016, the Falcons added pass-rusher Dwight Freeney late on a modest deal. He helped the young defense reach Super Bowl LI.

Clay Matthews, 34, who the Falcons passed on in the 2009 draft to select defensive tackle Peria Jerry, has been one of the league’s top pass rushers. The six-time Pro Bowl selection had eight sacks last season with the Rams.

He has 91.5 career sacks while playing for the Green Bay Packers (2009-18) and the Rams (2019).

Freeney played in 18 of 19 games and started twice. He played 415 snaps (37.4%) and had four sacks.

“We had a series of goals and targets that we wanted to achieve for positions of need,” Falcons president Rich McKay said. “We accomplished those targets. We went in with a very clear list of players that we wanted.”

While McKay is back on the football side, general manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Dan Quinn ran the point on the offseason moves.

“Thomas rated (the free agents),” McKay said. “Coach checked them. We went through it over and over again. I thought free agency went very well for us. It kind of went as planned.”

“Then the draft, the draft was a real challenge for GMs, especially GMs like Thomas that have been in it as long as they have been in it because it was just so different,” McKay said. “But I thought it worked very well. I thought it was very efficient.”

The Falcons brought owner Arthur Blank into a lot of the virtual meetings.

Whether the Falcons sign a kicker or Matthews, they believe the roster is much-improved.

“It’s been a good process for us,” McKay said. “We feel like we are a better football team, a much better football team than we were. We had to re-tool. We had some players we needed to add, and I think we’ve done that.”

Here’s a closer look at the 90-man roster:

OFFENSE

Overview: Surprisingly, the Falcons didn’t do much with the offensive line that gave up 50 quarterback sacks and 135 quarterback hits. The team also couldn’t run the ball last season.

All of the preferred starters return. The Falcons are clearly counting right guard Chris Lindstorm and left guard James Carpenter to be healthy.

They also are counting on right tackle Kaleb McGary to make a big jump from his rookie season to his second after he gave up a league-leading 13 sacks.

“Kaleb had a stronger season in the run game than he did in pass protection,” Koetter said.

McGary was given some techniques to work on this offseason.

“Now, that Kaleb has been through a regular season, (he) has a better feel for the guys he’s going against and what it’s going to take,” Koetter said. (The Falcons think) he’s going to take a big jump as well.”

Rookie Matt Hennessy was drafted in the third round and will compete to start at left guard. If Carpenter is healthy, the former first-round pick will be difficult to beat out.

“I think that a lot of people don’t know how great of an athlete that he is,” cornerback Isaiah Oliver said. “He’s a bigger guy. He’s bigger than kind of like the linebackers that we’ve had on this team in the past. But he’s just a really good athlete and moves really well. I think that he can just use that to his advantage.”

One of Oluokun’s highlights from 2018 was his going 40 yards down the field in coverage against Green Bay tight end Jimmy Graham.

“He likes to always tell people, he was a DB in college when he first got there at Yale,” Oliver said. “That kind of shows up on the field a little bit when he’s covering tight ends and running backs.”

Morris was credited with the second-half-of-the-season revival in 2019. How fast can he get Terrell ready to play will be key.

“His coaching style, his passion and his energy that he brings to the defensive side of the ball was a big jump for us,” Oliver said. “I think that helped us a lot. So, we are looking forward to having him running the show, looking forward to getting after it with him.”

This was the 41st year for Gosselin’s ratings. The top unit was New Orleans with 256. The Panthers (28) and Tampa Bay (32) were down in the same neighbor with the Falcons.

The Falcons, who were in the first-year under coordinator Ben Kotwica, were first in takeaways with five and second in points scored with 12.

“There were a lot of good things we did,” Kotwica said. “There’s definitely room for improvement. We were able to turn the football over on the opponent’s side a handful of times. We created some turnovers and field position for our football team.”

The Falcons used a draft pick to select Syracuse punter Sterling Hofrichter in the seventh round (228th overall) of the draft. He’ll battle Ryan Allen to essentially replace Matt Bosher, who ended last season on injured reserve. The Falcons also picked up linebacker Mykal Walker in the fourth-round (119th overall) and safety Jaylinn Hawkins (134th) in the draft and are counting on them to help on special teams.

“We feel that we’ve acquired some assets to move in the right direction and improve,” Kotwica said.

Also, the Falcons did not re-sign returner Kenjon Barner and will have a open competition. Wide receivers Brandon Powell, Olamide Zaccheaus and Chris Rowland are the main candidates.

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